Nine Tailed Ghost
by Ghostboy814
Summary: First part of the Ninja Phantom trilogy. The ghost of a feared ninja killer has arrived in Amity Park, and Danny can't stop him on his own. Clockwork helps out by sending over three ninja to help him, and the fun begins! NarutoDP crossover. Some DxS
1. Chapter 1

First off, let me say this: I mention a weapon multiple times that half of you say is spelled "kunie" and half of you say is spelled "kunai". I'm spelling it "kunie". End of discussion.**  
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**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or Naruto!**

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"I, Technus, shall escape once more, ghost child! And when I do, I promise-" 

"Yeah, yeah, I'll believe your promise of world domination when I see it." Danny sucked the technology-obsessed ghost into the Fenton Thermos and floated back down to an alleyway next to the skyscraper where he had been fighting. The building was the main headquarters for some multinational DotCom company and housed a series of huge servers. Servers that Technus could have used to take over the Internet. Good thing Danny had stopped him on time. Amity Park's Public Enemy Number One transformed into average, run-of-the-mill Danny Fenton and strolled out of the alley to meet up with his two best friends.

"So, I take it the fight went well?" Sam asked.

"Yup. Just Technus blabbing about his secret plans long enough for me to get him into the thermos without too much trouble."

"Great. Now c'mon, or we'll be late for the movie."

"True that. Man, I'm so excited to see X-Men III! I've been waiting for months!" Just then, a small knife came out of nowhere and pierced Danny's sleeve. The knife continued on its path and flew back into the alley, dragging Danny with it. Danny yelled out as the knife pinned him to the side of one of the buildings in the alleyway. A glowing green figure stalked into the alley behind the knife that he obviously threw. Danny exhaled a small amount of blue mist.

"Greeeat. My ghost sense goes off _after_ I get pinned to a building. Nice." The boy's grumbling ceased when the figure came close enough to make out finer details. He was wearing a piece of cloth that covered the lower part of his face. He was bare-chested but wore cowhide gloves that extended from his elbows to his wrists, and he had a massive sword strapped to his back. He also had a small pouch that was attached to his pants at the waist.

"Hello, halfa," he began. "My name is Zabuza. I've come here in order to take you as my apprentice so that together we can rule this pitiful town, and gain the respect of all its citizens." Danny went ghost and phased through the _kunai_ that was keeping him pinned to the wall.

"Dude, you have no idea how often I get that. My answer is the same, as always-I will never join the side of evil. Never." Zabuza sneered.

"Heroics. Pitiful. You're just lucky that I'm new to being a ghost and my _chakra_ hasn't adapted to my ectoplasmic signature yet. But in time it will, and I'll be able to use the full extent of my abilities. And you won't stand a chance against me." He crouched down and leapt into the air and disappeared faster than Danny would have thought possible. _No way a new ghost can fly that fast…he must have jumped, but what kind of person can jump like that, even without ghost powers?_ Danny left the alley, shaken.

"Dude, are you all right?" Tucker asked his halfa friend.

"Not quite. That ghost was powerful, and it seemed as though he wasn't using powers at all. When he becomes more experienced, I don't know if I'll have what it takes to bring him down."

"What do you mean, more experienced?"

"He said something about his _chakra_ adapting to his ecto-signature, whatever that means."

"_Chakra_? What the heck is that?"

"Darned if I know. We'll have to keep a sharp eye out. But enough of that, let's get to that movie already!" Danny started running in the direction of the movie theater. His two friends glanced at each other, shrugged, and followed him.

After the movie, the three of them were headed home.

"How sick was that fight scene at the end?" Danny asked nobody in particular.

"Sick-witted," Tucker replied.

"Yeah, I have to agree, that film was one of the best I've seen in a long time," Sam added.

Just in front of the trio, the hand of a clock appeared out of nowhere and spun around an invisible clock face. A blue vortex of energy followed the hand's path, and as the hand completed its circuit and disappeared the vortex took the shape of a circle. Clockwork, the Master of Time, floated out of the vortex and pressed the button on his staff. Time froze. Clockwork deftly extracted three medallions from within the folds of his robes and in one fluid movement cast them all so that one landed on each friend's neck. Danny, Sam, and Tucker unfroze and stood before the Time Wizard.

"What's up, Clockwork? Did my evil future self get loose?" Danny asked worriedly. Clockwork held up his left hand (the right was holding the staff) palm-out and motioned for Danny to relax, that everything regarding Dan was okay. For now.

"Don't worry about Dan; he's safely contained for the time being. I've come here because of a different ghost. The one you fought today, Zabuza."

"What about him?"

"You've noticed that he's displayed a large amount of power, skill, and grace without invoking any ghostly abilities?"

"Yeah,"

"That's because when he was alive, he was a feared ninja-killer. He was incredibly strong and had all of a ninja's abilities. Once he learns to integrate these abilities with his ghost powers, even you won't be able to stop him."

"Can't you do anything about it?"

"I'm on thin ice as it is for coming into the time stream; even though I'm allowed to interfere my employers don't always approve of it. The most I can do is provide you with some help."

"Help? What kind of help?"

"I'm going to create a space-time portal that will bring three ninjas here, to this location and time period. They fought Zabuza when he was alive and should be of use to you. Just be warned, one of them is a bit…eccentric. I can't say anything else without disrupting the time stream even more, except good luck, Danny." Danny nodded respectfully and Clockwork disappeared. Time turned back on and the three friends removed their medallions.

"We get to meet three actual ninjas? Cool!" Tucker exclaimed.

"I wonder what they'll be like?" Sam mused.

Suddenly, another vortex appeared in front of Danny and three people fell out, two boys and a girl. One of the boys had black hair and was wearing a blue jacket with an odd symbol on the back and shorts. The symbol resembled two semi-circles, one red and the other white. He had on armbands similar to Zabuza's but they were all white, not spotted. The girl had waist-length, pink hair. She wore a red piece of clothing that extended from above her shoulders down to a couple inches above her knees, and that had a white ring between her shoulder blades. She also wore a pair of skin-tight shorts underneath the red garment. The last boy was wearing what appeared to be an orange flight suit, like the one a fighter pilot might wear. The suit had blue patches over the shoulders and a red circle on the back, similar to Freakshow's crystal ball. He also had a whistle attached to one shoulder. He had a goofy grin on his face, china blue eyes, and wild yellow hair. The three of them all wore headbands that had a piece of metal on the center. The metal plate was engraved with the symbol of a leaf. The piece of metal also had an odd gold marking on the upper left-hand corner, which upon closer inspection was a C with an inscribed W. The symbol acted like Clockwork's medallions in that they kept the three ninja rooted to the time period they were currently in; they were just less cumbersome than having a medallion swinging around all the time. They stood up and dusted themselves off.

"Uh…hi. I'm Danny Fenton." The blonde kid pushed through his two friends so that he was standing right in front of Danny."

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki!" he exclaimed in a loud, annoying voice. "And I'm going to be the next _hokage_! Believe it!" Danny mentally cringed.

_This is going to be a looong next few days._


	2. Chapter 2

"Hi! I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm going to be the next _hokage_! Believe it!" The blonde boy was pushed aside by the girl.

"Stop bothering them, Naruto! Can't you be a little less annoying?" She asked angrily. She turned to the trio.

"Sorry about him, he can be a little…eccentric." Her works recalled Clockwork's warning about the help that he'd send over. "My name is Sakura, and this is Sasuke Uchiha," she gestured towards the still-silent third ninja. Sasuke bowed slightly and Danny, Sam, and Tucker hesitantly bowed back.

"Well," Danny began, "I said that I'm Danny, and these are my friends Sam and Tucker. You've been sent to help me fight the ghost of Zabuza." The three ninja recoiled at the sound of his name.

"Zabuza is scum," Sakura exclaimed. "We'd be happy to help you take him down."

"Aren't you guys a little young to be ninjas?" Tucker interjected. The three _shinobi_ glanced at each other.

"We're _genin_, ninja trainees," Sakura explained.

"But even though we're not that high ranked, we've fought Zabuza before. And I'm strong enough to beat him again!" Naruto asserted.

"Oh, shut up Naruto. We just barely beat Zabuza last time, and that was with a lot of help."

"Wait a minute," Sasuke interrupted, and the other five turned to face him. "Did you say something about a ghost?"

"Yeah," Danny replied. "I fought Zabuza's ghost earlier today."

"Don't be silly, ghosts don't exist!" Naruto argued. Danny, Sam, and Tucker smirked.

"Welcome to Amity Park, most severely haunted city in the U.S.A." Sam told them. "We get ghost attacks almost every day. In fact, Danny's parents are the resident ghost hunters."

"That's good," Sasuke replied. "We'll need their help to design weapons that will affect ghosts." He pulled a _kunie _out of the pouch that was tied around his right leg. "These are effective against humans, but they won't do anything against ghosts. We'll need to get our _kunie _and _shuriken_ upgraded so that they'll be worthwhile."

"Wait a minute, how do you know anything about ghosts?" Naruto asked. Sasuke's eyes glowed red as he activated his _sharingan_.

"I can sense the presence of psychic manifestations, remember? I've been feeling the presence of ghosts ever since we arrived. And I've been getting a very odd vibe from you," he said, pointing to Danny. Danny gulped.

"Well, you see, I'm kind of…half ghost. But don't tell anyone, especially my parents. It's kind of a secret among me, my friends, and my sister."

"Cool!" Naruto exclaimed in a loud voice. "How did you become like that?" Sakura punched him in the head.

"What part of 'don't tell anyone' don't you understand, Naruto?" Danny smiled softly and shook his head.

"It's okay, Sakura, there's nobody else around right now that heard. Also, since this street is deserted right now, I'm able to transform without anyone seeing, just to prove it to you." He morphed into Danny Phantom, and then immediately changed back. "See?"

"That's awesome! How are you able to do that?" Naruto asked again. Danny shrugged.

"I was in an accident about a year ago…one of my parents' inventions. But come on, it's getting dark and you three should probably stay at my place." The six of them kept walking in the direction of Danny, Sam, and Tucker's houses. Eventually, they reached Tucker's house and he said goodnight. Sam did the same a few minutes later.

Danny, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke all approached FentonWorks. They all craned their necks to get a good view of the Op Center and neon FentonWorks sign.

"Whoa, _this_ is your house?" Naruto asked in awe. Danny grinned.

"Yup. Welcome to FentonWorks. Remember, don't tell anyone about me being half ghost." The four of them went inside. As soon as the door closed behind them, Jack bounded up the stairs from the lab and approached them.

"Hey, Danny, guess what? Your mother and I made some modifications to the Booo-merang so that it gives a readout on whatever ghost it targets!" He threw the small silver device and it hit Danny squarely on the forehead.

"Level 7.0 ghost," it recited in a mechanical voice. The three _genin_ sniggered. Danny scowled at them, rubbed his head, and handed the Booo-merang back to his dad.

"Sorry about that, Danny. I guess we need to work the bugs out, I don't know why it would target you. Who are your friends? Nice jumpsuit, by the way," he commented to Naruto.

"Thanks!"

"Uh…these are Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke. They're exchange students from Japan and Mr. Lancer asked if they could stay with us."

"Well, you _do_ need to bring your English grade up…I guess its okay." Jack pulled a small aerosol can out of one of the pockets of his jumpsuit and coated the three _genin_ with its contents-a cloud of green mist. The three of them rubbed their eyes and shot him angry glares. He chuckled nervously.

"Spectral Sterilizer. It's designed to get rid of any ectoplasmic particles on your skin or clothing so that you don't drag them into the house. Sorry about the itchy eyes, we still haven't worked out all the bugs yet…" They continued to glare daggers at him. "Uh…I'll be in the lab!" He ran downstairs as fast as his legs could carry him. Danny snickered.

"He does that whenever Jazz or I bring new people into the house. Don't worry, that stuff doesn't really do much of anything. C'mon, I'll show you to the rooms that you'll be staying in." He led the three of them upstairs. Once they got to the second story, he knocked on the second door on the left.

"Come in," Jazz called from in front of her computer. Danny opened the door and showed Sakura the room.

"Sakura, this is my sister, Jazz. Jazz, this is my friend, Sakura. She's a Japanese exchange student, and mom and dad will probably make her room with you."

"It's nice to meet you. I like your room!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Thanks! You're lucky, I'm the only normal one in this family so you won't have to suffer everyone else's weirdness while you're in here."

"Oh, don't worry about that. You get used to weirdness by being a teammate with Naruto," Sakura replied as she elbowed Naruto's arm. Danny led the two boys to his room.

"And this is my room. The two of you will probably be staying here."

"Nice digs," Naruto commented.

"There's just one problem," Sasuke said.

"What's that?"

"All of our clothes and things. The entity that brought us here never sent them over."

"Good point. I better call Sam, she might be able to procure some of the things we need."

"Whoa, check it out!" Naruto pointed to the center of the room, where a blue vortex had just appeared. Three backpacks fell out of the vortex, and then it disappeared. The three boys stood there, silently.

"That was oddly convenient," Danny finally commented. The other two nodded and grabbed their backpacks. Sasuke picked up Sakura's pack and brought it over to her in Jazz's room.

"The two of them are discussing the finer points of abstract impressionism," he reported when he re-entered the room.

"Whoa…Jazz is a genius but I never would've expected the same of Sakura. She sure doesn't give off an aura of know-it-allness."

"Yeah, she does really well on all of our written exams!" Naruto replied.

"Kids, dinner!" Maddie's voice drifted up from downstairs.

"C'mon, let's go." Danny said as he turned to face his two new friends, but they had already disappeared, leaving two clouds of smoke in their wakes. He shrugged and met up with Jazz and Sakura at the top of the stairwell. Jazz was giggling and Sakura had her head in her hands.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Naruto and Sasuke just ran by us faster than you're able to fly," Jazz replied.

"Every time we stay with someone, they do this. It's like they have a contest, who can eat more. They'll end up making themselves sick, trust me." Sakura explained.

"Why do they eat so much?"

"They think that it'll give them strength so they'll have more power and endurance when they fight."

"Wait, fight?" Jazz interrupted.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you…Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke are actually ninjas that Clockwork sent over to help me fight a really powerful ghost."

"More powerful than the ghost king?" Danny shrugged.

"Not powerful in the sense that he has a lot of raw power. Zabuza's ghost is going to be a formidable opponent because he has ninja abilities in addition to his ghost powers."

"Kids, come down here now or else there won't be any food left!" Maddie called.

"Coming!" Jazz shouted down. "Come on, we can talk about this after dinner." She led the way downstairs as the halfa and the ninja followed. When they got downstairs, Naruto, Sasuke, and Jack were scarfing down food as fast as Maddie could put it on the table. Jazz, Sakura, and Danny quickly took their seats and tried to get a morsel of food in in-between two orange sleeves and a white arm pad. Soon, the only thing left on the table was a rectangular metal box.

"What's in there?" Naruto asked as he pointed at the contraption.

"Well," Maddie explained. "We've had this in storage for a while and we weren't planning on bringing it out anytime soon, but you two seem to be able to eat anything, so it's a good opportunity to get rid of it. If you two think that you can handle it, that is." Sasuke and Naruto nodded eagerly as Jazz and Danny shot each other dark looks. Maddie opened the top part of the box with a flourish and a chain of ghostly frankfurters shot out. Naruto grabbed the chain by the end as Sasuke pulled out a _kunie_. Faster than the Fenton's could blink, he had cut the chain into individual frankfurters and piled an equal amount on his and Naruto's plates. The two _genin_ eagerly began shoveling spectral hot dogs down their throats.

"Wow," Danny commented.

"Wow is right," Jazz added. Sakura just sighed. After the feeding frenzy was finished, Maddie held up her hand to keep the five teens at the table.

"Wait a minute, kids. What kind of knife was it that you used to cut the hot dogs?" Sasuke nervously handed her the _kunie._

"This is…a _kunie_," Maddie said slowly. "A ninja weapon. Why do you have it?"

"Uh…Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura came from Japan because they were sent to help catch Inviso-Bill," Jazz told her.

"Yeah, but we need your help reformatting our weapons so that they'll be effective against the ghosts here," Sakura added.

"You three are ghost hunters?" Jack asked excitedly. The _genin_ nodded. "Great! Then I can blather on to you about ghosts! Of course, I could have done that anyway, but that's not the point!"

"Wait, Jack, before you start blathering, what kinds of weapons are we talking about here?" Maddie asked.

"Well," Naruto began but then ran upstairs. He came back down a minute later holding a weapon that resembled a ring with four blades attached to it. "We have our _kunie_, like Sasuke showed you, and we also brought _shuriken_." He handed the _shuriken_ over to Maddie.

"Okay, then. I'll start working on anti-ghost versions of these while Jack tells you what we've discovered about ghosts so far."

"And that's why we make a good team, Maddie. Say, can I have a cookie?" She withdrew one from her pouch and tossed it to him. He shoved it into his mouth eagerly.

"Hey, if he gets a cookie can I have a cookie?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto, don't be a burden on hour hosts," Sakura chastised him.

"Oh, it's alright, Sakura." Maddie tossed Naruto a cookie. He ate it and shot Sasuke a look that clearly said "Ha! I win!" Jack led the _genin_ downstairs into the lab while Maddie followed, still holding the _kunie_ and _shuriken_.

"Great, they're in for it now," Jazz said wryly.


	3. Chapter 3

"Okay, first off, this is the Fenton Portal. It acts as a gateway between our world and the Ghost Zone, which is where ghosts live. Whenever ghosts come out of the portal, its our job as ghost hunters to catch them and force them back into the Ghost Zone using devices that were invented by me, Jack Fenton!" The _genin_ were bored to the point where they were almost nodding off. Or at least, two of them were.

"That's so cool!" Naruto exclaimed. "What kinds of inventions have you made?"

"I'm glad you asked that, Naruto. One of the things I've developed is the Specter Deflector, which shocks any ghost that comes into direct contact with the person wearing it." He strapped an anti-ghost belt onto each of them. "Another thing I've invented is the Fenton Thermos." He held up a thermos for them to see. "It sucks ghosts inside and negates their powers so that they can't escape. And there's the Fenton Fisher, which is like a fishing rod but it's made of a material that ghosts can't break, and the Fenton Weasel, and the Fenton Ghost Peeler…" Naruto was listening with rapt attention as the other two started zoning out.

Finally, the three _genin_ ambled up the staircase, Naruto's arms laden with anti-ghost weaponry. They passed Danny, who was doing homework at the kitchen table, and went upstairs to the bedrooms. Naruto and Sasuke each went to sleep immediately, since their contest dictated that whoever got the most sleep would have the most energy the next day. Sakura, on the other hand, went back down to the kitchen.

"Danny?" She asked softly as she placed a hand on his shoulder. The Specter Deflector she was wearing zapped him and he was temporarily surrounded by an aura of green electricity.

"OW! Okay, I heard you, don't touch me!" Sakura jerked her hand away.

"Sorry, I forgot I was wearing this thing…" she gestured towards the belt.

"It's alright. Just…can you turn in off for now and activate it only when there's a ghost around?"

"Besides you, you mean?" He smirked.

"Besides me." She pressed the button in the center of the belt and it deactivated with a mechanical whine. "So, what do you need?" he asked.

"I was just wondering…since your sister, you, and I didn't get a whole lot to eat at dinner," Danny snorted at this. "Is there anyplace we can get some food?"

"Sure, there's the Nasty Burger…but I kinda have to finish this math homework before my parents will let me leave."

"Here, let me have a look at it." Sakura sat down next to Danny and shot a cursory glance at the homework. "Oh, it's simple, all you have to do is…" Danny zoned out as Sakura explained the solutions to the work and finished it in about two minutes. After she finished the homework, she looked over at him and saw him drooling on the textbook.

She smirked.

"YEEEOOOOW!" Danny yelled as the Specter Deflector shocked him yet again. He glared at Sakura. "What was that for?"

"Just a wake-up call. C'mon, let's go to this 'Nasty Burger' place." Danny nodded and led her out the door. The two of them left FentonWorks side by side. They were walking along the sidewalk when Danny suddenly clapped a hand to his forehead.

"Duh! Why didn't I think of this before? I could just fly us there, it'd be much faster!" He looked over at Sakura and noted that she had a nervous facial expression.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I've never flown before…I mean as a ninja I can jump from tree to tree and things like that, but I've always been governed by the laws of physics. I've always been in relative control. I'm kind of nervous about being totally unable to control where I go."

"What, you think I'd drop you? C'mon, you'll be fine." He transformed and wrapped a hand around her waist. "Watch." Before she could protest they were already twenty feet in the air and moving forward at about fifty miles per hour.

"Wow, this is…fun," Sakura told him. Danny grinned. They landed in an alley next to the restaurant and Danny transformed. Then, the two of them entered the restaurant and walked up to the counter.

"See anything you like?" Danny asked her.

"Everything is so unfamiliar…I don't know what to order!"

"In that case," he turned to the employee behind the counter. "We'll take two cheeseburgers with fries and a Coke." The man rang up the order and Danny paid. A couple of minutes later, he and Sakura were seated across from each other in a booth, cheeseburgers in hand.

"What do you think?" He asked. She took a bite.

"This is amazing!" She exclaimed and eagerly took another bite. "I could eat one of these at every meal for the rest of my life!"

"I wouldn't recommend it," Danny warned. "These things are a heart attack on a bun. It's okay once in a while, but they're so unhealthy that more than one a day is too much." Sakura's face fell slightly.

"Well, we'll just have to come back tomorrow, then!" Danny grinned at that, and bit into his own burger.

As the two of them made their way out of the restaurant, Danny's ghost sense went off and they were accosted by a glowing green figure.

"Zabuza," they both spat.

"Ah, I see you've brought help from my past. Well, it won't do anything. Count on it!" Zabuza threw an anti-ghost _kunie _at Danny, who immediately transformed and split himself at the waist so that the device just went through the hole in the middle. Before he could do anything else, Sakura had shot in front of him. The _genin_ began making odd hand symbols as Zabuza cast five _kunie_ at her.

"Sakura, look out!" Danny shouted, but he was too late-the _kunie _all made contact and Sakura slowly sank to the ground, the five handles sticking out of her midsection.

"Sakura!" The halfa yelled, but his cry was in vain. He watched in awe as Sakura's body disappeared in a puff of gray smoke. A tree stump appeared in its place, all five _kunie_ imbedded in the wood.

"What? How did-" Before Danny could finish his sentence, Sakura had appeared behind Zabuza and thrust a _kunie_ of her own into his back. Unfortunately, the _kunie_ went right through him, but although it didn't hurt him, the move served as a distraction. Sakura jumped out of the way as Danny shot an ecto-blast at Zabuza while his attention was elsewhere, and he collapsed.

"Awesome! We did it! We beat him!" Danny cheered, but his joy was short-lived. As soon as Zabuza collapsed, he melted into ectoplasm.

"It must be a ghostly form of the water-clone _jutsu_, Sakura mused.

"The what?" Danny asked her as they began walking back to FentonWorks.

"When he was alive, Zabuza had the ability to make a clone out of himself made of water. He was able to hold out _sensei_ hostage while his clone fought us. It was really annoying."

"It seems that all of my dangerous enemies have the ability to clone themselves…but what were you saying about a _jutsu_? What does that mean?" Sakura let out a long sigh.

"It's kind of complicated, do you really want me to go into it?"

"I'll have to know eventually so that I have a fighting chance of beating Zabuza." Sakura smiled weakly.

"Okay. Every ninja has something called a _chakra_, which is sort of like a life force. _Chakra_ has two different types-physical and mental. Physical _chakra_ is based on a person's physical fitness and ninja must always be in tip-top physical shape in order to keep this aspect of _chakra_ working. The second part, mental _chakra_, is more complicated. You could say it's based off of a person's inner strength, rather than outer. Using this aspect of _chakra_ is emotionally draining, rather than physically. A ninja is able to combine their physical and mental _chakra_ and use it to perform superhuman feats. These special abilities are called _jutsu_. The trick that I did before, where the stump got hit by the _kunie _instead of me, is called a substitution _jutsu_."

"So that's what Zabuza was talking about the first time I fought him, about assimilating his _chakra_ with his ghost powers?"

"I wasn't there so I can't tell you exactly, but I'd imagine so. I'll bet he was talking about using his ghost powers to enhance his ninja abilities, like the way he used ectoplasm in order to power his water-clone _jutsu_." By this time they had reached FentonWorks. They went inside, climbed the stairs, and split up once they reached Jazz's room.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Danny."

"You too, Sakura." Sakura went into Jazz's room while Danny headed to his own room.

Unbeknownst to either of them, a ghostly green figure had been watching them the whole time. He had remained invisible while Danny and Sakura fought his ecto-clone, and had invisibly leapt from streetlight to streetlight as the two teens walked back to the large brick building.

"So, the halfa is beginning to learn the ways of the _shinobi_. It won't help him in the end, and soon enough this town will belong to me." A smirk formed beneath the bandages that hid his mouth, and he took off into the night.


	4. Chapter 4

The next day was Monday, so the five teens woke up earlier than usual to get ready for school.

"What?" Naruto exclaimed. "Why do we have to go to school? That's ridiculous!"

"Because," Danny growled impatiently, "You're here under the guise of being foreign exchange students. In order to be foreign exchange students, you kind of have to be students!"

"What's the matter, Naruto? Are you afraid of being called a loser here, just like back home?" Sasuke taunted.

"Yeah, I'll bet that you really want to go just because you'll have all the girls fawning over you." Sasuke merely shrugged.

How five teenagers managed to share one bathroom that morning in order to get ready is a mystery I'd rather not get into. After that miraculous feat, Danny, Jazz, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura went downstairs for breakfast, where Maddie was preparing ecto-eggs in honor of Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto's first day of school in America.

"And we all thought that Green Eggs and Ham was just a story," Jazz wailed. Naruto and Sasuke ate their food in a matter of minutes and even took the liberty to relieve Jazz, Sakura, and Naruto of their slightly radioactive repast. Thankfully, there were still muffins in the house, so the three non-egg-eaters were able to have _something_.

"Oh, by the way, I finished working on those anti-ghost weapons for you," Maddie informed them. She handed out anti-ghost _kunie _and _shuriken_ to the three _genin_. The weapons looked almost identical to their original weapons, except for the fact that these all were slightly glowing green. The _genin_ thanked her and placed the weapons in their leg pouches in addition to the regular, non-ghost hunting weapons.

After breakfast, Jazz followed Danny, Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke out of the house in order to give them a bit of news.

"You don't have to worry about registering your friends, Danny. I already called the school and registered Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno. They'll all be in the same classes as you."

"That's awesome, Jazz, thanks!"

"No problem, little bro." She kissed him on the top of his forehead and went to her car. Danny rubbed the spot vigorously.

"Gross!" He exclaimed. The three _genin_ snickered. "C'mon, or we'll be late," Danny muttered. He led the three of them in the direction of Casper High, and they met up with Sam and Tucker on the way.

"So, how was your first night at FentonWorks?" Sam asked.

"Great! Danny's mom can really cook!" Naruto shouted.

"Yes, the food was very good," Sasuke added.

"The two of them ate almost as much as my dad! They even ate the Frankenfurters that we've had in our refrigerator since the first time we met Technus," Danny informed them. Sam and Tucker both whistled.

"The equivalent of three Jack Fentons? Did you get anything to eat at all?" Tucker asked.

"Sakura and I went to the Nasty Burger after she helped me with my math homework."

"Cool! So you actually have your homework done for once!" Tucker encouraged him.

"Yeah, Danny, that's…great." Sam mumbled.

"Is that a hint of jealousy I detect, Sam?" Tucker asked her.

"Tucker…" Sam growled at him warningly.

"What? Why would Sam be jealous?" Danny asked Tucker. He answered by punching Danny in the head.

"You're so clueless it scares me sometimes, dude." Danny rubbed his head, mumbled something about the triumph of machine over man, and sped up so that he was walking ahead of the rest of the group.

"Uh…did I miss something here?" Naruto asked.

"Sam and Danny are clearly in love with each other, but they're both too thick to admit it," Tucker informed him.

"Tucker, I swear once I get my hands on you, so help me I'll-" Sam began chasing Tucker in circles around the three _genin_. Eventually, Tucker yelped and ran up to Danny to ask him for protection, leaving Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke to talk amongst themselves.

"That was weird," Naruto commented.

"You should talk," Sasuke replied and the blonde boy growled.

"Why, I oughta-" Naruto moved towards Sasuke menacingly but Sakura got in his way.

"Naruto, just because Sasuke is stating the fact that you're weird, doesn't give you the right to try and attack him. As if you could hurt Sasuke even if you wanted to."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean? I'm a way better ninja than Sasuke!"

"Okay, Naruto, if you say so."

"We should catch up with the others," Sasuke noted. The three _genin_ looked up from their argument and noticed that in fact, Danny, Sam, and Tucker were quite a ways ahead of them. They ran at ninja-speed and came to a halt right in front of Team Phantom.

"Whoa, how did you do that?" Tucker asked them.

"Ninja skills," Naruto replied haughtily. Just then, a caped, vampiric figure rose out of the ground.

"Why hello, Daniel," it said.

"Vlad," Danny spat. "What do you want?"

"Now, Daniel, what kind of question is that?" He fired a pink energy blast that knocked Danny back a few feet.

"Let me guess-kill my dad, marry my mom, and make me your apprentice so that you can take over both the world and the Ghost Zone?"

"You see, Daniel? That wasn't so hard. Frankly, I don't know _how_ you manage to maintain a C average if you can solve problems that quickly.

"And I don't know how you manage to not get it into your ugly head that I will NEVER join you! Honestly, when will you realize that I'll never join the side of evil?"

"You will join me, Daniel, whether it's by choice or by force!" He duplicated into four and each of the duplicates approached Danny. Suddenly, Naruto ran in-between Danny and the Plasmius duplicates and began grunting and raising his hand.

"Ooh, over here, listen, I need to tell you something, listen to me, over here, oh, come on." One of Vlad's duplicates groaned

"Yes, what is it?" it asked, clearly annoyed.

"I can do that!" Naruto boasted. Vlad's annoyance was replaced by curiosity.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto made a couple of hand signals.

"Shadow-clone _jutsu_!" He shouted. There were twenty puffs of smoke, and when they dissipated twenty clones of Naruto were standing in a circle around Danny, the Plasmius duplicates, and the original Naruto.

"IS EVERYONE MOCKING MY INABILITY TO MASTER DUPLICATION?" Danny shouted to the heavens.

Naruto's clones all grinned and withdrew anti-ghost _kunie_. Plasmius' duplicates saw the glowing green blades pointed at them, gulped, and retracted into the original.

"You've used your rook to check the king, very good, Daniel. It seems that if nothing else, I've managed to teach you chess after all. But you have yet to checkmate me, _son_." He disappeared in a pink vortex of energy and Naruto's clones vanished in the same gray puffs of smoke from whence they came.

"Nice going, Naruto!" Tucker said.

"Thanks! Who was that?"

"His name is Vlad Plasmius, and he's my archenemy. He's half ghost just like me, but he got his powers twenty years ago so he's way more powerful and experienced," Danny explained. "Back in college, he blamed my dad on the accident that gave him his powers because that accident also cost him his chance with my mom. So now he wants to kill my dad, marry my mom, and take me in as an apprentice."

"So he's a lonely guy in his forties? Talk about a guy that needs to try Internet dating. Or a cat," Sasuke commented and Danny laughed uproariously.

"See, that's what I've been trying to tell him, but he just won't listen…" they continued walking and it wasn't long before they arrived at Casper High. They entered the building and Danny, Sam, and Tucker led Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke into the main office.

"Principal Ishiyama?"

"Yes? Ah, these must be the three new students! Welcome to Casper High!"

"Thank you!" Sakura replied. "It's really great to be here."

"I'm glad you think so!" she exclaimed, then mumbled, "Just wait until after you spend the day in this poorly funded hellhole."

"What was that?" Sakura asked.

"Nothing, nothing!" Principal Ishiyama exclaimed, her voice once again cheery. The six teens glanced at each other. "Here are your class schedules and locker combinations…" Principal Ishiyama handed out all the necessary items to the three _genin_ and instructed Danny, Sam, and Tucker to help them out throughout the day. The six students made their way over to Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura's lockers and taught them how to work the combination locks.

"Hey, Fen-_turd_!" A voice carried over from down the hall.

"Oh, great. Dash." Danny moaned.

"Who?" Naruto asked.

"School bully," Tucker explained.

"It's time for your daily wailing, loser!" Dash hefted Danny up by the collar of his shirt and shoved him into Sakura's locker. The jock slammed the door and stalked away. The _genin_ started moving towards him threateningly, but Sam and Tucker held them back.

"He's really not worth it," Tucker told them.

"Yeah. Besides, if you use your moves to put him in the ICU on your first day, you'll get in deep trouble and also blow your cover," Sam added. The _genin_ sighed and deflated slightly.

"Fine, if you insist," Sakura said resignedly and opened her locker so that Danny could get out.

"Thanks, guys. Now, Jazz said that we'd all be in the same classes, so we should start heading over to room-"

"Uh, guys?"

"What is it, Tucker?"

"Look." Everyone turned to where the African-American boy was pointing and saw the cheerleading squad fawning over Sasuke.

"He's so cute," Paulina cooed.

"I know," Star agreed. Sakura growled and marched over to them.

"Don't even think about it! Sasuke's _mine_, understand?"

"If you say so, _chica_, but if nothing else I can get a cute guy away from any girl, so watch your back," Paulina replied as she led her clique away.

"What were you saying this morning, Naruto?" Sasuke mocked.

"Shut it…"

Their first class that day was math. The teacher was impressed that Danny had actually completed his homework for once, but besides that the period was pretty uneventful. Danny, Tucker, and Naruto fell asleep, Sam and Sakura paid attention, and Sasuke sat silently but managed to have every girl in class looking at him adoringly. The rest of the morning was no different, and it wasn't too long before the six of them made their way to lunch.

"So, how was your first morning of high school?" Danny asked the three _genin_.

"Not bad."

"Can't complain."

"Are you kidding? How do you do this five days a week? It's torture, I tell you!" Naruto shouted as the six friends sat down at a table.

"Actually, I'm kind of with Naruto on this one," Tucker informed the group.

"Oh, Sasuke," a Latino voice called. The owner of the voice became apparent as Paulina approached the table, followed by her satellite, Star. "Why don't you come sit with me, Sasuke? I'm sure you'd rather be with the popular group than these losers." Naruto stood up from the table.

"Hey, why don't you want me to sit with you? I'm much better looking than Sasuke!" Paulina looked as though she was going to be sick.

"You? I'd rather go out with _Fenton_ than you!" This time it was Danny's turn to stand up.

"Hey, I resent that!" Paulina ignored him and turned her attention back to Sasuke.

"Sasuke, what do you say?" Before he could respond, a glowing green _kunie_ landed on the table. Paulina and Star both screamed, "Ghost!" and started running, but Paulina turned around halfway between the table and the exit.

"If it's a ghost, then the Ghost Boy will come and save me!" She squealed and ran back to the table. Danny eyed her and swore under his breath. _I can't transform with her right here! I guess this time it's up to Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto._ By this time, everyone had cleared the lunchroom except for the seven of them, all of whom were facing the now-visible ghost of Zabuza.

"More relics of my past. I'm going to _enjoy_ this." He leapt into the air and ricocheted off the wall to avoid the anti-ghost _kunie_ that the _genin_ had thrown at him. Before any of them could react, he had grabbed Paulina and leapt over the counter where the food was served.

"Ecto-prison _jutsu_!" he shouted and a glowing green dome surrounded Paulina. Zabuza kept one hand on the surface of the dome and used the other to make several hand symbols. Immediately, a clone of the ninja-killer appeared in front of the six friends.

The three _genin_ leapt into action. Sakura stood in front of Danny, Sam, and Tucker like a human shield while Naruto and Sasuke fanned out in front of her. Naruto and the ecto-clone each withdrew anti-ghost _kunie_ from their leg pouches and began a vicious hand-to-hand battle. Zabuza's clone got in a hit and Naruto was sent flying across the room. Sasuke threw an anti-ghost _shuriken_ but the clone quickly performed a substitution _jutsu_ to dodge it. The clone rematerialized in-between Sasuke and Sakura and made a dash towards Sakura. He withdrew the huge sword and made to swipe Sakura with it. While he was extended forward, an anti-ghost _kunie_ struck him in the stomach. The clone gasped, grabbed at the wound, and melted. Everyone present looked to see who had thrown the _kunie_, and were surprised to see that it was Naruto. Or rather, a shadow-clone of Naruto that the original had summoned during his impromptu flight across the lunchroom.

"Quick, Danny, while Paulina's distracted!" Sam exhorted him when she noticed that Paulina was busy ranting at Zabuza. Danny took the hint and transformed. As Phantom, he immediately went intangible and sank into the ground.

"I'm warning you, when _mi papa_ hears about what you've done to me, he'll make you wish you'd never been born, let alone died!"

"Will you shut it already? You're never going to get out of there, so just-" Zabuza didn't get the opportunity to finish his sentence because Danny had shot him with an ecto-blast from behind. As soon as Zabuza flew forward, his ecto-prison _jutsu_ disappeared and Paulina was freed.

"Oh, Ghost Boy, I knew you'd save me!" She gushed.

"Paulina, I mean whatever-your-name-is, now is not the time!" Danny vaulted forward in an attempt to deliver a punishing series of punches to Zabuza's ghost. Unfortunately, having been trained in the ways of the _shinobi_, Zabuza was able to dodge Danny's melee.

"Until next time, halfa," he shouted as he turned intangible and leapt through the ceiling. After he disappeared, the _genin_ walked over to Danny and the four of them surveyed the damage done to the cafeteria. There were a few tables that were smashed in at the middle, and a few small dents in the walls, but other than that the damage was minimal.

"Not bad, really. It could have gotten a lot worse," Danny commented. Suddenly, he was assaulted from behind in the form of Paulina, who had wrapped her arms tightly around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder blade.

"Thank you for saving me, Inviso-Bill," she cooed in her most seductive voice. He turned intangible and phased out of her grasp just as the bell signaling the end of lunch rang.

"We-I mean, you should all be getting to class now. It's important that you all stay in school." Danny told them in his most heroic-sounding voice. Paulina pouted and Sam rolled her eyes.

"Fine, but I'll see you soon, Ghost Boy." Paulina left the cafeteria.

"Stay in school? Next you'll be speaking at a school assembly and appearing on commercials telling us to drink our milk," Sam scoffed.

"One of the perks to being a superhero." He transformed back to Fenton. "Shall we go to history?"

"Let's." The two of them led the other four out of the cafeteria. Just before they left, Naruto turned to Sasuke.

"HA! You're not the most popular! That girl likes Danny more than you!" Sasuke grunted and walked through the doors.

"You know it's true!" Naruto shouted after him as he ran into the hallway.


	5. Chapter 5

After school that day, the six friends went to Elmer's Pharmacy to get some ice cream. There, the _genin_ became acquainted with the Box Ghost, who had decided to make his daily appearance at the teen hangout.

"He comes and bothers us almost every day," Tucker explained as Danny punched the blue specter in the face behind him.

"Doesn't he ever learn?" Sakura asked. "I mean, after a while, wouldn't he realize that there's no point in even trying?"

"Apparently not." Danny sucked the Box Ghost into the thermos and flew away; he couldn't simply transform seeing as the pharmacy was filled with patrons who had come to watch the ghost fight.

After the pharmacy, they went to the park to hang out and finish up their homework out in the sunshine. Sakura finished her work almost immediately, and she, Sam, and Tucker spent the majority of the remaining daylight hours explaining everything to Danny and Naruto while Sasuke sat stoically and got ogled by the majority of Amity Park's teenage female population. The six of them then went over to Tucker's house, where he introduced the _genin_ to video games.

"So you collect these key thingies and then you put them into this door and you win?" Naruto asked.

"Basically. But you have to dodge all the baddies and other players along the way," Tucker explained.

"Awesome! When can I start?"

"As soon as you make up a name for yourself. I'm 'Fryer-Tuck'."

"I'm Ghost-Boy," Danny added.

"And I'm Chaos," Sam finished.

"Come on, girls don't play video games!" Naruto asserted. Sam, Tucker, and Danny all stared at him for a second, then burst out laughing.

"You think so?" Danny asked. "You can verse her, then, and we'll se what you think afterwards."

"Okay, can I be 'Hokage5'?"

"Sure, if you want."

"Alright! Let's play!" Naruto happily logged on, and got a Game Over within ten minutes thanks to one of Chaos' grenades.

"Alright, alright, I guess girls are good at video games," Naruto admitted.

After that, they went to the backyard of FentonWorks to watch the genin train. Danny, Sam, and Tucker were amazed at some of the moves they were able to do. Danny was slightly worried that he wouldn't be able to face that kind of _tai jitsu_ when fighting Zabuza, but the _genin_ reassured him.

"Leave the _tai jitsu_ to us," Sakura said.

"Yeah, we can take him, as far as hand-to-hand combat is concerned," Naruto boasted.

"But what if he pulls a _jutsu_ on us? I can't prepare against those, either!" Danny complained.

"Danny, any _jutsu_ he does you'll be able to defend against using your powers."

"Really?"

"Yes, now stop worrying!" Sakura said, and turned back to the other two _genin_ so that they'd be able to train. By then, it was starting to get dark, so they all decided to call it a night and head home. Sam and Tucker said goodbye and went back to their respective houses, and Danny, Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto went inside FentonWorks. After dinner, they watched a little bit of TV, which amazed the _genin_, then went upstairs to bed. The three of them changed into pajamas, and Naruto donned an odd black hat that looked like some sort of animal. Danny didn't press the issue. The sleeping arrangements were as such: Danny slept in his bed, Sasuke was in a sleeping bag to his left and Naruto was in a sleeping bag to his right. Unfortunately, sleep seemed to elude them.

"So now what?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know…what do you want to talk about?" Danny replied.

"Uh…how terrible high school is?" Danny smirked.

"Yeah, you've been there for all of a day. Imagine having to spend an entire _year_ there!"

"How do you live?"

"I wouldn't mind," Sasuke noted.

"Yeah, 'cuz you had every single girl in school fawning over you!" Naruto asserted.

"Yeah, and we have like 291 girls at my school!" Danny added. Sasuke shrugged.

"The only problem with staying…I can't avenge them…" Sasuke said in a dark voice.

"What? Avenge who?"

"The Uchiha clan. My clan. It's my responsibility to rebuild the clan."

"Rebuild? What happened to them?" Danny asked, confused.

"They were murdered," Sasuke replied, his voice no louder than a whisper.

"Whoa…I'm so sorry…"

"Thank you. But I don't require apologies. I will avenge them, and I'll do it on my own. Believe it."

"Now you sound like Naruto," Danny noted wryly.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Naruto asked. Sasuke snorted and rolled over so that he could block out the other two and try to get some sleep. It wasn't long before Danny and Naruto did the same.

The next day, Danny, Jazz, Tucker, Sam, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto all met up outside of FentonWorks to begin their walk to school.

"We need to get rid of Zabuza quickly," Danny began.

"I agree," Sasuke replied. "I don't like the idea of just waiting until he strikes next. We should try and think of a way to take the fight to him."

"But how?" Naruto asked. "We don't even know what he's doing when he isn't attacking us. How can we predict where he'll be next?"

"Well, where were you fighting when he died?" Danny asked the group.

"It was on a bridge."

"So the first place we should look for him is the biggest bridge in town-the one that crosses the Amity River. We can go right after school today."

"If you're not busy having that girl ignore you but go ga-ga over your ghost half, that is," Naruto quipped. Instead of snapping, Danny simply smirked and turned intangible. Before Naruto could react, Danny flew into him and overshadowed him.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm going to be the guy that cleans toilets at the ninja academy! Believe it!" Danny shouted in Naruto's voice, and then flew out of him. Naruto regained control over his senses in time to see Tucker, Sam, Sasuke and Sakura rolling on the ground, laughing.

"Uh…what just happened?" He asked as he held a hand to his head, the overshadowing leaving him slightly dizzy.

"Nothing, Naruto," Sakura said as she picked herself up. "We should get to school."


	6. Chapter 6

Amity River was the boundary that marked the western edge of town. A large suspension bridge led over the raging waters and connected Amity Park with the outside world. It was a beautiful, cloudless day and from the bridge, Danny, Sam, Tucker, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were able to see for miles. The six friends stood on the deserted bridge in a circle facing outward.

"C'mon, guys," Tucker complained. "How do you know that he'll even be-" all of a sudden, Zabuza materialized out of nowhere in front of them.

"-here," Tucker finished lamely.

"It was wise of you to come here…but wisdom won't help you defeat me!" He made a couple of hand signals and a thick, green mist covered the battlefield. "There's a reason why I was called the 'demon of the mist' back in life. While this mist surrounds you, I'll be able to attack without warning from any direction…" he faded away into the background as he spoke and by the time he finished he'd completely vanished.

"Everyone draw your weapons and stay completely silent," Sasuke warned the group as he drew a pair of anti-ghost _kunie_. Danny went ghost and charged up an orb of ectoplasmic energy in each hand. Sakura and Naruto each drew a pair of anti-ghost _kunie_ like Sasuke, and Sam and Tucker each activated the armor of their Fenton Peelers.

The silence of those first few moments blanketed the group almost as thickly as the mist. They all stood in utter reticence and remained on their guard for any signs of motion. The silent standoff continued for thirty seconds…a minute…two minutes…

"You're very patient," Zabuza's voice came to them from everywhere at once and made them all jump. "But you're forgetting to look behind you!" Zabuza appeared in the center of the circle and swuing his large sword around in a circle. Danny instinctively grabbed Sam and Tucker and flew them straight up into the air at the same time as the _genin_ jumped to avoid the sweeping circular blow Zabuza struck with his huge sword. Unfortunately, he disappeared into the mist just before any of them could strike back, so the six had no choice but to regroup. As soon as they came together, two Zabuza's approached them from either side. They were too far away to attack, but too close for comfort.

"I think," Danny began, "I think that we should split up into two groups of three."

"Are you nuts?" Naruto asked incredulously. "That's exactly what he wants!"

"True, but I don't see any other options here; do you?" Naruto's silence answered his question quite nicely. Naruto, Sakura, and Tucker moved towards the clone on the left, while Danny, Sasuke, and Sam took on the one on the right. As each trio approached their clone, the clones slowly moved in opposite directions and drew the two groups further and further apart from each other. Soon, too soon, each group disappeared from the others' sight as the mist enveloped them.


	7. Chapter 7

As soon as he was sure that his followers had been thoroughly separated from their friends, Zabuza stopped and allowed Naruto, Sasuke, and Tucker to encircle him.

"Give it up, Zabuza! You don't have a chance against us!" Sakura shouted to him. Instead of replying, Zabuza simply crossed his arms and laughed.

"What's with you? Stop laughing!" Naruto yelled. Zabuza ceased his maniacal laughter and immediately took on a tone of utter seriousness.

"Very well," he replied. "Then let's begin!" Before any of them could react, he threw three _kunie_ at Tucker. Luckily for the dark-skinned boy, the Fenton Ghost Peeler's armor was thick enough to protect him. The boy looked down at the small knives sticking out of the metal, sighed with relief, and looked up in time to see Zabuza run up and punch him in his helmeted head. Hard. Tucker attempted to get up, but he was slow in doing so because of the additional weight of the armor.

"My _kunie_ might not be able to penetrate your shield, but this _shuriken_ sure will!" Zabuza asserted as he cast the device at the recumbent boy. Before it could make contact, though, Sakura ran in front of Tucker and performed a substitution _jutsu_. A stump took the place of the _genin_ and was struck by the _shuriken_, and the momentum of the device caused the stump to be thrown back and bounce harmlessly against Tucker's armor.

As soon as she'd performed the _jutsu_, Sakura reappeared off to the left and launched an anti-ghost _kunie_ at Zabuza. The Demon of the Mist dodged by bending backwards at the waist and allowing the _kunie_ to pass over him. Zabuza's skyward view was suddenly blocked by Naruto, who had jumped and whose trajectory carried him and the _kunie_ in his hand directly into Zabuza. Zabuza reflexively bent all the way backwards and kicked up in a handspring. Not expecting this, Naruto got kicked in the face and flew backwards. Fortunately, it hadn't really been Naruto; it'd just been a shadow clone that disappeared in a puff of smoke after sailing for a few feet. The real Naruto had already thrown an anti-ghost _shuriken_ at Zabuza, who sidestepped to dodge it. Then, to everyone's surprise, the _shuriken _disappeared in a puff of smoke and turned into Tucker.

"Eat this!" He cried as he shot at Zabuza with the Fenton Peeler. Too slow to dodge the blast, Zabuza was struck dead-on with a green beam of energy and destabilized to ectoplasm.

"It was…just a clone," Sakura murmured.

"That's right," a voice replied from behind Tucker. All of a sudden, the boy was thrown forwards as a second Zabuza kicked him from behind. Tucker slowly stood up but doubled over as he was hit in the stomach by a _shuriken_ that Zabuza had just thrown. As Zabuza had predicted, the _shuriken_ did indeed pierce his armor. Sakura ran over to Tucker just as the Fenton Peeler's armor retracted, and examined the wound.

"He'll live," she reported grimly, "but we should get him out of here as quickly as possible."

"Unfortunately, you getting out of here at all isn't going to be possible!" Zabuza spat as he threw three _kunie_ at Sakura. Naruto immediately summoned a shadow clone to jump in the way of the _kunie_ and take the hits instead. The real Naruto ran up to the other two as soon as his clone disappeared.

"Quickly, give me the Fenton Peeler!" Sakura tossed the small gun to him. Naruto pressed the button and was immediately covered in the device's armor.

"Shadow Clone _jutsu_!" Naruto shouted as twenty clones appeared out of nowhere. All of the clones were wielding a Fenton Peeler and were protected by its armor. One of the clones tried to run up to Zabuza, but he was impeded by the armor.

"I can't move," he complained.

"That armor may protect you, but it limits your mobility!" Zabuza yelled. The Demon of the Mist hefted his sword and began swiping at the clones. Most of them managed to jump out of the way, but three were struck by the sword and disappeared in clouds of gray smoke. After one attempted strike, Zabuza overbalanced and stood with the sword pointing forward and one of his legs extended behind him in order to regain his balance. A Naruto clone took this opportunity to do a sweeping kick and knock Zabuza's leg out from underneath him. The clone fired the Fenton Peeler at Zabuza while he was lying on the ground, and he melted into a puddle of ectoplasmic goo.

"Another clone!" Naruto shouted angrily as his clones all disappeared, leaving the original standing next to Sakura. The two _genin_ stood silently for a minute, their senses fine-tuned to detect the presence of another clone about to attack.

"I think that was the last one," Sakura finally said.

"We should go find the others, then. We need to get Tucker some help," Naruto replied.

"Let's go." The two of them picked up Tucker and headed in the direction that they'd come from.


	8. Chapter 8

Unfortunately for Danny, Sam, and Sasuke, the Zabuza that they were fighting wasn't as kind to them as the clone that had lured Tucker, Sakura, and Naruto away from the group. Instead of pausing and allowing his foes to encircle him, Zabuza simply turned around and thrust five _kunie_ directly at the three of them. Sasuke jumped out of the way as Danny held Sam and made the two of them intangible. The _kunie_ phased right through them and stuck into the pavement of the bridge.

"Ha! Is that all you got?" Danny taunted.

"In about five seconds you'll be wishing that this was all I could muster," Zabuza replied.

"What the-" Danny was suddenly punched in the back of the head and flung forward. He flew a couple of feet and landed face-first on the ground. Sam spun around to see one of Zabuza's ecto-clones. She tried to shoot the Fenton Peeler at it, but it jumped away…

…right into the trajectory of Sasuke, who was holding a _kunie_. Sasuke easily struck down the clone and it destabilized to ectoplasm before their eyes. Danny stood up and fired his own ectoblasts at the original Zabuza, but the Demon of the Mist dodged and threw an anti-ghost _shuriken_ right back at the halfa. Danny summoned a dome-shaped ghost shield, but instead of simply bouncing off, the _shuriken_ struck the shield and got stuck with one of its four blades poking through the shield. The ghost shield shattered and Danny caught the _shuriken_ as it fell.

"Sasuke, catch!" Danny cried as he inexpertly threw the _shuriken_ into the air. Sasuke jumped, caught it, somersaulted in mid-air, and launched it right at Zabuza at the same time as Sam fired shot at him with the Fenton Peeler. The two attacks converged on Zabuza and created a large explosion.

When the smoke cleared, Sasuke, Sam, and Danny slowly went over to the small crater that had been created where Zabuza had been standing.

"Is he…gone?" Sam asked.

"Not quite yet, children!" Zabuza spat as he phased upwards out of the ground and hit Danny in the chest with an ectoblast of his own. Sasuke charged at him but Zabuza simply ducked and sent a kick up into the _genin_'s gut. Sasuke went flying and landed next to Danny. Sam tried to do a leg sweep but Zabuza jumped and drove a _kunie_ into her arm. The force of his thrust caused the weapon to pierce her armor.

"Aaah!" She yelled as the _kunie_ pierced her skin. Zabuza hit her chest plate with a windmill kick that caused her to land right on top of Danny.

"Ow," the halfa groaned as the weight of his girlfriend's armor threatened to crush him.

"Oh, just go intangible, you big baby," Sam joked weakly, just before she passed her pain threshold and blacked out. Danny grinned slightly and followed her instructions as he phased down into the ground.

"It's time to end this!" Sasuke roared as he threw an anti-ghost _kunie_ at Zabuza.

"Please. You honestly think that _that_ will stop me?" Zabuza laughed as he caused his head to become gaseous and form a hole where the _kunie_ was aimed. The weapon passed through the hole.

Danny silently rose up from the ground behind Zabuza just as Sasuke had thrown the _kunie_. When Zabuza dodged the attack, Danny quickly threw his hands up and clamped them shut on top of the blade that was hurtling towards him. The point of the _kunie_ paused less than an inch away from Danny's face. The halfa grasped the handle of the _kunie_ in his hand and prepared to strike.

"You're out of options," Zabuza ranted. "There's nothing left you can do. The ghost child's run away, the girl is wounded, and you can't defeat me thanks to my powers. My ecto-clones are taking care of your friends. You've lost, Sasuke. You're out of options. Give it up." Sasuke gave a small grin.

"That's where you're wrong, Zabuza. A good _shinobi_ is never out of options. Right, Danny?"

"Right!" Danny replied as he drove the _kunie_ deep into Zabuza's back.

"What? But how?" The Demon of the Mist shouted as ectoplasm spurted from the wound.

"What do you mean, how? We beat you fair and square," Danny replied. "In my sister's words, you've just earned a one-way ticket to thermos-land. Have a nice day!" He ended in a falsely cheery tone as he sucked Zabuza's ghost into a Fenton Thermos. As soon as the specter was gone, the green mist started to dissipate. Once it did, the three were able to see their friends a few hundred feet away.

"Hey, guys, over here!" Naruto shouted.

"Hi! We beat Zabuza!" Danny called back.

"Awesome! We need your help though, Tucker's hurt!"

"Sam too!" Danny retracted Sam's Fenton Peeler armor, picked her up bridal style, and flew her over to the other three. Sasuke followed not far behind.

"We should get them to my house, my sister should be able to patch them up," Danny suggested.

"Sounds good." Naruto stood Tucker up and slung his arm over his shoulder. "Let's go!" He jumped away and disappeared, and Danny followed carrying Sam. Sasuke and Sakura took the rear, and the four of them all headed to FentonWorks.

"Whoa, what were you guys doing out there?" Jazz asked when they appeared, battered and bruised, on the stoop.

"Not now, Jazz. Sam and Tucker need help." Jazz stepped aside to let the four carry the two wounded inside and lay them down on twin couches that were located in the family room. She then closed the door and ran to get a first aid kit.

"You're lucky," she commented as she wrapped bandages around Tucker's torso. "These wounds aren't deep at all; they've just lost a lot of blood." She held up the boy's bloodstained shirt just to prove it.

"I bet the Fenton Peeler's armor protected them from the brunt of the attacks," Sakura speculated.

"Yeah…" Naruto agreed. Danny held Sam's arm up so that Jazz could dress her wound as well.

"So are you ready to tell me what happened?" Jazz asked. Just then, Sam's eyes fluttered open.

"Wha…where are we?" She tiredly asked.

"Shh," Danny cooed as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, and I took you and Tucker back to my place so Jazz could treat you."

"Did we win?"

"Yeah. We won."

"That's awesome, dude," Tucker added as he, too, got up. He cringed suddenly and sank back down into his recumbent position.

"Oh yeah, you might not want to get up for a little while," Jazz advised.

"Thanks for the timely warning," Tucker quipped as he put a hand to his stomach.

"So I'm guessing you were fighting Zabuza?" Jazz guessed.

"Yeah." Danny held up the thermos and rattled it slightly. "It's all over now."


	9. Chapter 9

Six friends sat around the kitchen table at FentonWorks, sipping hot chocolate and talking in subdued voices.

"So…" Naruto began. "Now what?"

"I don't know," Danny answered. "The way I see it there are two options. Either you three stay here, or go back to Japan and your own time."

"I say stay here," Sakura stated. "I can't live without Nasty Burgers."

"No, we need to go back!" Naruto replied. "How am I supposed to be _hokage_ if we never get back to the Village Hidden in the Leaves?"

"Wait a minute," Danny interrupted. "First of all, what's a _hokage_?"

"The _hokage_ is the greatest ninja of all," Sakura explained.

"Okay, well, since you three are the only ninja here, theoretically isn't the best one out of the three of you automatically the _hokage_?"

"I don't think it works like that," Sakura replied, "but it's a nice idea."

"How would we go back anyway?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, Clockwork brought the three of you here, so it follows that he'll be the one to bring all of you back," Danny answered, then held up the Fenton Thermos that contained Zabuza's ghost. "He'll probably want to take this as well; Zabuza is way too dangerous to simply let back into the Ghost Zone."

"You think Clockwork will keep him with Dan?" Tucker asked him.

"Probably. That makes the most sense," was the response.

"This Clockwork, is he a ghost also?" Sakura asked the trio.

"Yeah," Sam answered. "He's the master of time, and he was the one that created that blue vortex that brought all of you here."

"So what do we do, just wait for him to bring us back?"

"I guess we don't have any other choice…"

"Wait a second," Tucker interjected, "Can I see your headbands for a second?" he asked the _genin_.

"No way. A _shinobi_ never removes his headband. Never." Naruto replied with a sudden venom.

"Yeesh, don't bite my head off, I didn't mean that you had to take them off. I just wanted to take a look, you can still be wearing them while I inspect them if it means so much to you." Naruto sighed and leaned forward so that Tucker could get a good view of his metal headband. The dark-skinned boy took off his glasses and squinted up at the leaf symbol engraved in the metal.

"I got it!" he exclaimed, then put his glasses on and turned to face the rest of the group. "See that little gold marking on the upper right-hand corner of the metal? That's a CW, Clockwork's symbol. I'm guessing that that little marking acts like the medallions Clockwork uses to allow people to be dislodged from their time period. As soon as you take the headbands off, you should pop right back to your own time." Sakura sadly shook her head.

"It's like Naruto said before-we're not going to remove our headbands. It just isn't done. Are you sure that there isn't another way for us to get in contact with this Clockwork person?"

"If you're that adamant about it, I guess we'll just have to take the Specter Speeder and visit Clockwork ourselves," Danny announced.

"Wait a minute," Naruto interrupted, "you can just go and see Clockwork whenever you feel like it? So what are we doing arguing about it here! Let's go already!" He got up and shoved everyone else downstairs into the lab. Danny opened the Fenton Portal while Tucker got the Specter Speeder in gear. Afterwards, everyone filed into the hovercraft as Danny drove it into the Ghost Zone.

"Whoa…this place is so cool!" Naruto exclaimed.

"That it is, Naruto. That it is," Tucker replied as they sped in the direction of Clockwork's tower. They arrived and disembarked, and the six of them made their way through the halls lined with clocks of all shapes and sizes until they reached the room with the large circle that lets one see into the past, present, and future.

"Hello, children," Clockwork's voice rang through the room and caused everyone present to jump. The voice laughed. "Don't be afraid, I'm not going to harm you." Clockwork materialized right in front of the circular device. "I'm guessing you're here in order to be sent home, correct?"

"That's right," Naruto replied.

"Well, all you have to do is remove your headbands. Once you do that, you'll return to your own time period."

"We can't," Sakura replied. "A _shinobi_ can't remove their headband, it's against ninja protocol."

"Well, I guess I could use my staff to send you back…I'll give the six of you a couple of minutes to yourselves, though." Clockwork disappeared in a blue vortex and the six friends all faced each other.

"I guess this is goodbye," Sakura said.

"I guess so…" Sam replied. "It's been really fun, having you around."

"Yeah, you guys rock!" Tucker exclaimed.

"You too!" Naruto replied. "I loved playing video games with you!"

"And those Nasty Burgers? Amazing!" Sakura added.

"We all had a really great time," Sasuke concluded.

"Us too," Danny replied. "Man, you three are awesome fighters! I wish we had more time together so you could show me how to throw your _shuriken_ like that."

"Next time an evil ninja pays Amity Park a visit, we'll be glad to," Sasuke told him. Just then, Clockwork reappeared in front of them.

"You've all finished saying your goodbyes," he announced.

"Oh yeah? How do you know?" Naruto asked.

"I'm the master of time, I know everything," Clockwork replied, annoyed. "Anyways, its time for the _genin_ to go back home now." He raised his staff and the clock that adorned it began glowing with an intense blue light. The clock emitted three beams of energy, each of which hit the mark on the headbands that Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura wore. The gold markings disappeared and the _genin_ began to fade away.

"Bye guys! I hope you become the next _hokage_, Naruto!" Danny called.

"Thanks! See you ar-" Naruto was cut off as he and the other two _genin_ vanished completely. Clockwork turned to face Danny.

"I believe you have something for me."

"Oh yeah!" Danny ran back to the Specter Speeder and came back holding a Fenton Thermos. "Here's the thermos that contains Zabuza's ghost." Clockwork took the thermos and placed it in a supply closet, right next to a battered, dented one.

"Yes, Zabuza is much too dangerous to allow into the Ghost Zone. He and Dan will be contained for all time."

"So you know they'll never escape?" Danny asked hopefully.

"Yes. They're not going to come out of those thermoses, don't you worry about that. You've got enough on your plate as it is."

"That's a relief. Well, we should be getting back as well. See you soon, Clockwork!"

"Hopefully not too soon," the Master of Time replied with a wink. Danny, Sam, and Tucker hopped into the Specter Speeder and returned to the Fenton Lab. They all decided to go upstairs to the kitchen, where Danny's mom had just finished baking a batch of cookies.

"Hey, kids! Where are your three Japanese friends?" Maddie asked them as they sat down at the circular table.

"They…uh…had to go back to Japan," Danny told her.

"Darn, I was really starting to get the hang of their fighting techniques. I hope they come back to visit soon!"

"Me too, mom," Danny replied as he took a cookie off of the tray that Maddie had just placed on the table. After the three friends had eaten a few cookies, and Jack had come in and eaten the rest of them, Danny, Tucker, and Sam went into Danny's living room to watch TV. A couple of hours later, Tucker had to go home.

"The blog community waits for no geek," he announced.

"You have a blog?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, it's all about ghosts."

"Whoa…my dad should check it out."

"Are you kidding? He's the most frequent visitor! Anyway, I better go online and see how everything's going. I'll see you two lovebirds later!" With that, he thanked Mrs. Fenton for the cookies and left Danny's house.

"We're not lovebirds!" They shouted, but he had already gone.

"Well, I'd say we've had an eventful couple of days," She told him.

"That we have," he replied. "So d'you think Naruto is ever going to become the next _hokage_?"

"Well, he is a strong fighter…I guess he could be, if he learns not to be so annoying." The two of them shared a chuckle, then turned their attention back to the TV.


	10. Chapter 10

Okay, I don't normally do this, in fact I've never done it before, but since so many of you want a sequel I'm seriously considering it. But not until I've finished the fic I'm currently working on! I decided to give you this as an opening into what I plan on doing with the sequel, whenever I get around to it.

BTW, if you're just reading this chapter and haven't read the first 9 since I posted them, I strongly suggest you go back and re-read them. I changed a couple of minor things, and also removed the DxS fluff. Yes, I love fluff as much as the next reader of FF, but I just felt like actually getting a story done without including romance. Besides, what I had was terribly written.

* * *

A few weeks after the Zabuza incident, Danny found himself headed over to the Nasty Burger to meet Sam and Tucker. His journey was interrupted, though, by a certain evil halfa. 

"I told you I'd be back, Daniel," Vlad said as he materialized in front of Danny.

"It's 'Danny!' and didn't you learn from the last time you got beaten?"

"Ah, yes, your little ninja friend. You see, I've been doing some research, and I've found out all about your _shinobi_ friends. And I've even learned a few of their abilities."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"You should have paid more attention to Sasuke," Vlad said. He made a couple of hand signs and his eyes glowed an even brighter shade of red, if possible.

"_Sharingan!_"

* * *

Well, there you have it. A window into the sequel, whenever it may be.  



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